The tale of the mysterious Girt Dog of Ennerdale

Emily Rothery goes on the trail of a dog-like creature that brought terror to the Lakes

An artist s impression by

Helen Thorburn

There
are many dog-like creatures found in the folklores of northern Britain
and they have some weird and wonderful names - Barquist, Gytrash,
Padfoot, The Grim, Striker or Skriker.

They are names that once
struck fear into the hearts of all who believed in their existence. The
mythical black creature was considered to be an apparition that
appeared at night and was said to portend death. It was reputed to be
much larger than a normal dog with huge glowing eyes and was often
associated with electrical storms and the devil.

They are said to
be myths dating back to Celtic times but in the Lake District in the
early 19th century a mysterious creature known as The Girt Dog of
Ennerdale was eventually found to be an altogether different kind of
hound.

In 1810 a savage predator began mercilessly killing sheep
in the Cumberland valley of Ennerdale. The attacks went on for months
with up to eight sheep a day being slaughtered. Alarm spread, children
were kept inside for safety’s sake and a £10 reward was offered for its
capture.

A thylacine bagged by an Australian hunter

Eventually
it was spotted but it was not what the locals expected. It was
described as having the qualities of both a large cat and a large dog,
tawny in colour with dark stripes running down its back.
Local
farmers and their neighbours abandoned normal duties to track down the
blood-thirsty carnivore, which seemed to have an uncanny ability to
evade capture. It ignored poisoned meat that was put down and led the
hunters a merry dance as they followed it on forays into Wasdale and
then south into Lancashire.

It was said that normally brave
hunting dogs that had been set on its trail would cower and whimper when
a scent was picked up. Thus a belief began to take hold that the
creature was indeed supernatural.
One experienced hunter by the
name of Will Rothery was one of the first to get a clear shot but was so
alarmed as the beast approached that he dropped his musket, lost his
reputation and made a run for it.
As news of the wily predator
spread across the county the locals were joined by professional huntsmen
but still the beast evaded capture until eventually, after a long
chase, the Girt Dog was run to ground and mortally wounded by a man
named John Steel. By this time it was said to have killed 300 sheep and
terrified a whole community.

The Girt Dog’s bloody reign had
come to an end and the carcass, which weighed 112lbs was paraded around
the area before being stuffed and displayed in The Hutton Museum in
nearby Keswick. Unfortunately, in the 1950s a curator decided it was
becoming moth-eaten and threw it out.

It is now commonly believed
that the Girt Dog of Ennerdale was, in fact, a thylacine, a wolf-like
marsupial, also known as a Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf. The exotic
predator had possibly escaped from a travelling menagerie or circus,
but the true origins will never be known for certain.

Hounded out
The
thylacine, commonly known as the Tassie tiger, has been considered
extinct for nearly 80 years but recently a team of intrepid British
naturalists believe that compelling evidence of its presence has been
found in Tasmania’s north west.

It is thought this was a relatively shy, nocturnal creature with a stiff tail and abdominal pouch like a kangaroo.

Its reputation as a sheep thief led to a bounty being placed on its head and this resulted in its likely extinction.

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Okay, let us get this straight. It is a popular misconception that in hunting the term "bag" or "bagged" means a shot fox or animal. The term originated in fox hunting where captive foxes were released from sacks ("bags") for hunts. If the houndsmen could get to the fox before the hounds then the fox was "bagged" for the next hunt. This is all detailed in The Red Paper: Canids along with hunting books and literature and examples. http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooper-scharf/the-red-paper-canids/paperback/product-22092321.html

I am also sick and tired that people cannot buy books or do any original research but cite absolute fantasy sources as references.